Emotional Intelligence

The science and philosophy

The triune brain

When a man lies down on the psychoanalyst’s couch, a horse and an alligator lie down with him.

Arthur Koestler

The triune brain

In 1970, the neurologist Paul MacLean proposed a three-part structure to the brain, reflecting different
stages in our evolution.

The brainstem or ‘reptile brain’

The ‘reptile brain’ processes anger, fear, and the territorial instinct. These basic emotions
provide a ‘quick and dirty’ way for primitive animals to ‘decide’ to move away from
danger, and towards what they wanted (such as food), as well as to protect their territory. These ‘fight
or flight’ responses can motivate us to extraordinary efforts in time of need – but they also
need to be kept under control, or they can lead us to do things we might regret later.

The limbic system or ‘mammalian brain’

As we move up the evolutionary scale, we see an expansion in the limbic system. These structures enable more
complex emotions such as ‘caring’ which provide motivation for animals and birds to nurture
their young. Animals that live in complex social groups also need a way of ‘reading’ the
emotional state and likely behaviour of each other group member – the limbic system provides that
ability in a fairly reliable way.

The cerebral cortex or ‘reasoning brain’

At the human level, our language and reframing abilities allow us to experience more shades and nuances of
emotion, tremendously expanding our emotional palette. We can have ‘thoughts about our feelings’;
we can use language to motivate others by inspiring emotions in them; and, crucially, most of the time we
can reframe our raw emotional impulses to get them under control and put things into perspective.

Stress and the triune brain

Although we are capable of reason and emotional control, we don’t operate in this mode all the time.
Under stress or the influence of alcohol or other drugs, it is all too easy to regress right back down to
the ‘reptile brain’ level. Common examples would include road rage, territorial disputes between
neighbours and barroom brawls.

Criticisms of the triune brain model

The triune brain model is a mainstay of Accelerated Learning, which is where you are most likely to come
across it. More recent neuroscientists have criticised the model as being too simplistic. We have included
it here for completeness, but although it should not be taken too literally, it remains a useful metaphor
for how reason and logic can break down under stress.

Recognising emotions – left and right brains

Focus on the nose of each face in turn, and decide which one looks happier.

Most people find the right hand face looks happier. For ‘normally’ wired up people, the right
hemisphere of the brain (which processes the left half of the field of vision) specialises in processing
facial signals to judge emotions. Consequently we tend to judge how someone is feeling based on the
expression of the right (from their point of view) half of their face.

When baboons square up for a confrontation, each will keep the other in the left half of their field of
vision, so they can judge more accurately if the other is bluffing.

The ‘amygdala hijack’

The amygdala hijack

When we are scared or thrilled, memories are imprinted with particular vividness. The part of the brain
called the amygdala scans incoming sensory impressions, pattern matching present experience with these vivid
past memories to decide ‘Is this something I fear? Is it something I hate?’ If there is even a
rough pattern-match, the amygdala instantly triggers the body into a crisis reaction.

This match doesn’t have to make logical sense – sensory input reaches the amygdala before it
reaches the neocortex, the seat of the conscious, reasoning mind. As long as the match is close enough, the
emotional reaction is triggered.

Pathways from the cortex to the amygdala are overshadowed by the pathways from the amygdala to the cortex.
Emotional arousal therefore tends to dominate thinking. Although thoughts can easily trigger emotions, by
activating the amygdala, we are not so good at consciously turning off emotions (by deactivating the
amygdala).

Any strong emotion makes us stupid – leading to black/white, either/or, right/wrong
thinking. To allow the higher centres of the brain space to do the reframing which is essential to any
therapeutic change, you have to achieve a degree of detachment first.